The Opelousas courier., 1887-06-11
Makfnn Glass Enes.

IN making ah aftlEclal eye inc 1a&
passes through the hands Of three work.
men. Tlese men sit before small work,
benches hidden by . solid board fencs
or railing. Underneath, one foot rests
upon o trcadle which works q small bel.
lows. Directly in front of them is ar
ordinary gas jet with small sheet-iror
cover, having an opening at the top like
the chute of a wheat elevator. BY the
aid of the bellows this is converted into
a small blast furnace. The intensity o.
the heat is shown by the blue color Of
the flame that spouts from the mouth Of
the chute. On earh side of the furnace
is a small cushion about five inches
wide.
Taking a hollow glass cylinder about
the size and length Of an ordinary lead
pencil, the workman turns on the gas,
and resting his elbows upon these cush.
ions, begins operations by holding the
end of the tube in the flame. Then by
gently blowing, aided by considerable
manipulation, he produces upon the end
of the tube a cone resembling in color
the fine Frcnch china. This is to repre-
sent the white OF the eye.
This conc still attached to the long
stem, is uow turned over to tho second
workman. lie places the point before
the fl me, and picking up a long, slen.
sder stick, he begins to work on the ex.
treme tip of the cone. This slender stick
is enamel, and looks like the cat-gut
string Of a bass viol that had been var.
nished. Near at hand arc all the prin-
cipal colors Of the human iris in these
slender sticks Of enamel. To produce
the intermediate hues, or any distinct
popularity, two of the sticks are held in
flame and twir.ed around until q third
stick of the desired color is produced.
Uniting the white tip of the CONF with
the stick of enamel under the flame,
the tip disappears, and in its place
comes the rounded outer surface of the
eye with a dark spot representing the
basis of the colorng matter, or iris.
The cone has now assumed the shape of
an acorn inverted, the white spot where
the nut was attached to the she'll form
ing the iris. D fferent sticks of enamel
are now used as the workmen endeavor
to perfect the irs as nearly as possible
like that Of the uniniared eye of the GUS
toner, whom lie visits every few
moments in an adjoining room. During
this process the acora-shapcd shell is
rapidly tw .rlcd around and the-eaamel
is pecked in, emitting sparks under a
bright light. The pupil is finally placed
in the centre of the iris by a darker hue
Of the enamel, and over this the trans
parent surface or cornea is paced.
The ey@is now placed in the hands Of
the last workman. He finds upon the
glass stem the perfect eye. 1t is his
business to fit the inner surface and
edges to the stump of the optic nerve
left in the wearer's empty socket. By
examining the stump and trying on an
assorted collection OF samp!es the size is
arrived at. The workman takes his
place before the blast furnace. The
glote is halved, the part attached to the
eye having ar Irregular edge and inner
surface to correspond with the cavity it
is to fill. The eye is next put in q small
iron receptacle and covered again,
placed before the fame to temper it, and
Ypppn taken out is a complete artificial
fsrl.-[New York World.